Family Movie Night
By Karyn Bowman
This past Mother’s Day, one of my gifts was a movie date with my son.
Now this was going to interesting because he prefers horror or deadly action/adventure movies while I am more of a romantic comedy or straight comedy fan. I hate the nightmares I get with his favorite genres while he likes comedies that are a bit more racy or drug infused.
For whatever reasons, we settled on Breaking In starring Gabrielle Union and Billy Burke. I like Gabrielle Union, she has always played tough women who seemed smarter than most. She has had a 20-year career in Hollywood playing strong women.
And in this movie she must be strong when she and her kids go to her deceased father’s house for the weekend in order to get it ready to put on the market.
As you may have guessed, her father had a few secrets. Such as what his business entailed and just how much security fills the house. And this is a beautiful spread. Lots of square footage, lots of rolling greens, and wooded areas. The house has a security gate and a long winding driveway.
Problems start when our grieving mom, Shaun, and her children find out that there are intruders in the house. Unfortunately for Mom, the kids are inside while she is outside. These men want something within the house and they are willing to kill to get it.
The leader, Eddie, played by Billy Burke of Twilight fame, pretends to be a nicer guy. He pretends he doesn’t want to kill an entire family to get what he wants. He leaves that role to henchman Duncan, played by Richard Cabral, who likes waving a knife around.
Soon we are in a struggle as the men try to find something in the house and keep the mother bear at bay. After all she just a woman, she can’t fight back. Or can she?
You know the answer to this question because we have seen this movie before. I like that Union makes Shaun into a caring person and not some fighting robot. She never loses her compassion for her kids or others caught in the web of these intruders. But it doesn’t feel fresh or new, nothing seems to be added to this film that moves it beyond what it is. Its one of those movies that you will watch later on when it appearsom a day when you need to veg. For that it is perfect.
My biggest gripe has to do with the location of the movie early on. We are shown a street sign and for those who know the city, it is obviously the Old Town neighborhood in Chicago. As the man jogs, it appears that he is running along the lakefront near Belmont harbor. Next, he is running in a residential area that features big houses and wide streets. While there are mansions in Chicago, this looks more like some North Shore neighborhoods. For a character who creates a super stronghold, it seems inconsistent that he does an unprotected daily run that takes him on a twenty plus mile run.
This is one of those movies you could watch with your older teens. Just be aware that there is plenty of violence and some swearing as this has a PG-13 rating. It wasn’t the worst movie I‘ve seen this year but I was hoping it would be better.
Until next week, see you in the rental aisle.
Notes from Rumbly Cottage 